Jamaica Breathes Life as Major Winter Sports Team Returns for Beijing Winter Olympics 2022

One can’t imagine the Olympics without the Jamaican sprinters. Now, the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics is also set to be enthralled by Jamaica’s speedsters, albeit on a bobsled sliding down a snow circuit. The island nation’s representatives have qualified for three bobsled events for the first time in its history.

The biggest achievement of the Jamaican bobsled riders, arguably, was the qualification for the four-man category. The Caribbean nation would take part in this format after a gap of 24 years. Their last appearance in the four-man event took place at the 1998 Nagano Games.

Beijing Winter Olympics and Jamaica

In the qualification for the 28-team field in the four-men category at the Beijing Games, the Jamaican riders gained the final spot. This was based on their recent results. Along with this category in the bobsled events, Jamaica would also be represented in the two-man and the women’s monobob events.

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Shanwayne Stephens is likely to pilot the four-man unit as he has been carrying that responsibility in recent times. Along with him, Rolando Reid, Ashley Watson, and Matthew Wekpe are the favorites to take up the other three spots. This has been the line-up this season, and it has done relatively well.

Stephens, who also serves as a lance corporal in the Royal Air Force of Great Britain, will gain a major achievement in his career. Earlier, he had a video conversation with Queen Elizabeth after gaining attention for his unique training methods. In 2020, the Jamaican athlete was practicing by pushing cars in Peterborough. This was to get some practice when Covid had put a brake on all events.

Jamaica and Winter Olympics

Jamaica’s involvement in Winter Olympics goes all the way back to 1988. That year, the Caribbean nation featured at the Calgary Winter Olympics and its four-man bobsled team competed on the grandest stage. Even though they failed to finish their race, their achievement inspired Disney to make a movie called ‘Cool Runnings.’

Apart from bobsleigh events, Jamaica will also participate in alpine skiing. The nation is yet to win a medal in the Winter Games, in stark contrast to their success in the Summer Olympics. But, qualifying itself is an achievement for this nation, considering the weather in that country and the limited resources the athletes for winter sports have.

Let’s hope we see some ‘cool runnings’ from their sportsmen in Beijing. Safe to say, no country generates as much excitement in the field of sports as this beautiful island.